Tobacco can humidor cover



March 27, 1951 c HICKS TOBACCO CAN HUMIDOR COVER Filed May 21, 1947 EDWARD, C. HICKS Patented Mar. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to tobacco humidors, and more particularly to a humidor cover for tobacco cans.

A main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved humidor cover for tobacco cans, said cover being very simple in construc tion, neat in appearance and adapted to be employed with equal effectiveness either with standard commercial one pound tobacco cans or with standard commercial half pound tobacco cans.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved humidor cover for standard commercial tobacco cans, said cover being inexpensive to manufacture, eflicient in performance and sturdy in construction.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved humidor cover which may be alternatively employed either with a standard one pound tobacco can or with a standard half pound tobacco can, the main body portion of the cover being suitable for fabrication from plastic material or from a single sheet metal blank in a single operation and the cover being provided with spring means for effectively sealing the can on which it is used against the escape of moisture therefrom as Well as providing a means for humidifying the contents thereof.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and claims, and from the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l. is an elevational view of a standard half pound tobacco can on which is positioned a humidor cover constructed in accordance with the present invention, the cover being shown in cross-section.

Figure 2 is an elevational view, partly in cross-section, of the upper portion of a standard one pound tobacco can on which is positioned the humidor cover of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of the humidor cover of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional detail View illustrating a modified form of humidor cover according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, H designates a standard half pound tobacco can such as is commonly employed a container in whic smoking tobacco is marketed to the public. The container M has an outer top bead l2 which serves to rigidity the topof the can. The can is ordinarily furnished with a removable flanged disc-like cover which fits tightly into an inner flange provided at the top of the can. In ac cordance with the present invention, a humidor cover id is employed in place of the original cover.

Cover It comprises a generally circular body fabricated from plastic material or sheet metal, as by molding or stamping, or by any other suitable process, said body comprising a central upstanding hollow boss [5 in which is placed a mass of humidifying material such as chalk or plaster, shown at It, said "mass being preferably molded in place. The cover body is substantially flat around the boss !5, as shown at IT, and is formed with an upstanding annular corrugation at l8 of substantially semi-circular cross-section. Beyond the corrugation IS the body is annularly flanged downwardly at IQ for a substantial depth, is reversely curved at 20, and is flanged upward- 1y at 2|, terminating in an outwardly projecting annular lip or flange 24. The depending hollow annular flange thus defined is preferably slightly tapered downwardly to facilitate the molding or stamping of the body, to facilitate the outward flexure of flange wall l9 when the cover is employed on a half pound can, as shown in Figure l, and to facilitate the inward flexure of flange wall 2! when the cover is employed on a one pound can, as shown in Figure 2. The spacing of the flange walls It and 2! is in accordance with the respective outer diameter of the bead E2 of a half pound can and the inside diameter of the inner cover flange 22 of a one pound can. Said depending hollow flange defined by the annular flange walls 19 and 2H is also preferably of substantial depth in order to allow for reasonable manufacturing deviations of the above mentioned can diameter dimensions and to insure adequate flexural resiliency of said flange walls.

As shown in Figure 1, the inner flange wall is is frictionally engaged with the bead l2 and is outwardly flexed thereby, thus providing a substantially vapor tight seal at the bead. When the cover employed on a one pound can, such as shown at 23 in Figure 2, wall 25 or the hollow depending flange of the cover is friotionally engaged in the inner closure flange 22 of can 23 and is inwardly flexed thereby, thus providing a substantially vapor tight seal at the closure flange. The flexure of outer flange wall 2! is communicated to a substantial degree by the bend it? to the inner flange wall if], which also inn-orally provides a portion of spring reaction directed against the can closure flange The upwardly projecting bend it provides connection between the inner flange wall and the flat annular portion whereby said flat portion remains substantially unstressed. This prevents the central hollow boss from being distorted and thereby prevents loosening or cracking of the moisture bearin hardened plastic mass It. Said plastic mass would be ordinarily of relatively brittle material, such a chalk or plaster, as above mentioned, so that it is quite important to thus prevent distortion of the central boss I5, especially Where the body of the cover is made of relatively thin plastic or of light gauge sheet material.

Where thicker plastic or heavier gauge sheet metal is employed, the inner bend Ii! may be omitted, as shown in the embodiment of Figure 4. In Figure 4 the central hollow boss is shown at 25', said boss containing the moisture carrying mass Extending outwardly from boss 55 is the annular flat portion ill and depending from the outer margin thereof is the hollow tapered flange defined by inner flange wall It, bott m bend outer flange wall 2! and lip 2 3. Since thicker plastic or heavier gauge sheet metal is employed than in the embodiment of Figure l, flat portion I? is much stiffer than the flat portion i? of said previous embodiment and will not communicate flexural strains to boss Q5.

The hollow boss 55 of the of the invention and the boss $5 of the second embodiment are employed as handes for manipulating the cover, as well as serving as housings for the storage of the humidifying material !ii.

In either embodiment, due to the downward taper on the hollow depending outer flange oi the cover, the more downward pressure there is applied to the cover the tighter is the fit.

The curves of all bends are made smooth so as to facilitate easy flow of plastic material in molding, where the cover is made of plastic, and to prevent localized concentrations of stress, where the cover is fabricated from sheet metal.

By actual measurement, the outside diameter of the bead ii? of a standard one half pound tobacco was found to be 4.36 inches. By a linilar measurement, the inside diameter of flange 22 of a standard one pound can was found to be 4.82 inches. The mean diameter between these two values is 4.59 inches. The mean diameter of the depending hollow flange of the cover is therefore preferably close to 4.59 inches but may have any value within a range limited by the 4.35 inch outside diameter of the bead i2 of the half pound can and the 4.32 inch inside diameter o the flange 22 of the one pound can.

he prelerred depth of the depending hollow flange of the cover is approximately one inch, and in a cractical embodiment of the invention a deptn of 6.9 inch was employed. The upward flare oi the hollow annular flange is preferably such that the 4.36 inch inside diameter value occurs in the middle third of the inside flange wall I9 or E9 the 41.82 inch outside diameter value occurs in the middle third of the outside flange wall 21 or 2!. By employing a hollow flange design as above described, substantial assurance is obtained that the flexural strains dea is.

first embodiment veloped in the hollow flange will be distributed thereover in a uniform manner and that no strains will be transmitted to the inner flat annular portion I? or ii of the cover.

In the embodiment of Figure 4, the thickness of the main body of the cove is preferably much greater than the thickness of the wall 19 and 2 i of the depending hollow flange.

While certain specific embodiments of a humidor cover for tobacco cans have been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood that various modifications within the spirit of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore it is intended that no limitations be placed on the invention eiicept as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A humidor cover of the character described comprising a substantially circular body member provided at its central portion with a hollow, downwardly facing boss, a mass of molded humidifying material inside said boss, and a relatively flexible periphery provided on said body nember, said periphery including a depending, flexible, annular, downwardly tapered hollow rib adapted to flt either over the top bead of a standard one-half pound can or inside the inner closure flange of a standard one pound can, and anannular, flexible corrugation located inwardly c? said rib, the flexibility of said corrugation reventing the transmission of strains from the periphery inwardly to the hollow boss, whereby aid mass of humidiiying material is insulated r m such strains.

2. A humidor cove 1 oi the character described comprising a substantially circular body member provided at its central portion with a hollow, downwardly facing boss, a mass of molded humidifying material inside said boss, a flexible, annular, depending, tapered hollow rib at the periphery of said body member adapted to fit sealingly either over the top head or" a standard one-half pound can or inside the inner closure flange of a standard one pound can, and an anw, to

' nular, upstanding, flexible corrugation in the body member located inwardly adjacent said depending hollow rib, said flexible corrugation being adapted to absorb strains developed in the depending rib and to prevent the transmission of such strains inwardly to the hollow base, whereby said of humidiiying material is insulated from such strains.

EDWARD C. HICKS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STA'IES PATENTS ilurncr Name Date 6 6,838 Heins July 5, 1898 1,348,550 Dister Aug. 5, 1920 1,537,656 Radcliffe Aug, 2, 1927 1,847,363 Rogers Mar. 1, 1932 2,445,361 Clibbon Aug. 3, 1948 2,472,583 Richardson June 7, 1949 

